Sky Bet League One
Saturday 7th September 2019
Without doubt, this game was won by the quality of both managers' substitutions.
On the back of a disappointing first half, Darren Moore brought on Niall Ennis for Kazaiah Sterling and it certainly gave Doncaster Rovers a better attacking impetus.
Likewise, the change on the hour mark when Kieran Sadlier replaced Alfie May was pretty much perfect and exactly what Donny needed at that stage.
By contrast, Rotherham United boss Paul Warne wasn't proactive enough with his substitutions.
Matt Crooks; someone who will drop back, sit in and protect the back-line and do the dirty work as and when it's needed - and is capable of being a really key player, should have come on five minutes earlier. The decision was made to let him have 'five more minutes' warming up and in that period, Rovers equalised following a spell of near-constant possession in which they'd clearly got on top.
Had the midfielder come on at 1-0 - like he should have, it's highly probable that Rovers' dominance wouldn't have been as great and, barring any 'worldie' finish or lucky deflection, etc, Rotherham will have taken point(s) back to the New York Stadium.
However, Warne didn't make that change when he should have done and it proved costly as, after the equaliser, momentum swung completely in Donny's favour and there was only one team pressing for the winner.
All the more frustrating from a Rotherham perspective is, for 55 minutes, the game panned out pretty much as expected with little in the way of goalmouth action (especially from open play) at both ends, but the Millers having more possession.
The quality of the visitors' set-piece deliveries was key. On five or six occasions, some absolutely excellent balls got whipped into the danger zone and with Ian Lawlor not particularly keen in coming off his line to deal with the danger, it was no surprise that the opener came from a set-play.
Richard Wood's clumsy booking just before half-time and Ennis' subsequent half-time introduction gave the hosts hope and the warning signs were there early in the second half, when the youngster got the better of the experienced centre-back in a duel and then when Donny's Arsenal loanee Ben Sheaf saw a thunderous effort met with an equally superb flying save from Lewis Price.
It was at this point, just after the hour mark, when Rotherham needed to make a change, but Warne just simply didn't do it in time. Crooks was told 'five minutes' and started applying tape to his socks in preparation yet the stark reality was he needed to come on right at that moment as his team-mates were getting overrun.
The next time Ennis got the better of Wood was when he worked his way to the byline and hooked a ball back towards James Coppinger who emphatically smashed home an equaliser which was reward for a dominant spell of pressure.
I've no idea what the Rotherham manager has said in his post-match interview, though with 3,500 supporters in a packed out away end, it may be one of those situations where it's best to apologise and admit he was too late with that change.
Whilst it's always a good idea to be respectful to managers, whatever was said in the dressing room afterwards I've no doubt there'll be at least a few players who'll have looked towards their boss and thought something along the lines of: 'You f**ked up as much as us in the second half'. Warne's critics will use this derby day defeat against him.
After the equaliser it was one-way traffic and had Price not made a string of good saves, mainly from long-range efforts, the winner could have arrived much sooner.
In the end, Ben Whiteman's late spot-kick proved decisive and it's no surprise that, again, Ennis was heavilly involved in the move that led to the awarding of it; being brought to ground by Michael Ihiekwe after his initial effort was blocked.
The Millers did nearly grab an injury-time equaliser when Freddie Ladapo's header had to be scrambled away off the goal line but otherwise, during the five minutes of stoppage-time, the Millers looked beaten, looked dejected and couldn't get anywhere near the ball.
From a Donny viewpoint, had they not emerged victorious then Moore may have pondered why he opted to start Sterling (who was largely like a rabbit caught in headlights) over Ennis and also not include Sadlier in the line-up.
But, just as much as Rotherham threw it away with bad tactical decisions, you have to give credit to Moore for spotting what was needed to give his side a chance in the second half, then to the players for getting on top and showing the courage, character and determination to come back and register a third successive home league win.
The negative is that the side went behind (again) and made life difficult for themselves, albeit against good opponents in Rotherham who will 'hammer' somebody sooner or later, but the positive is they came back again and that's now 10 points recovered from losing positions. Without doubt there's a lot of potential in this young Rovers side and if they can keep churning out results, there's no reason why they can't enjoy a fruitful season in the upper echelons of League One.
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